In Folks, profiles present all employee information. Discover the different tabs available and what you can find depending on your permissions.
Administrators can access employee custom fields by clicking on the icon. To view employee history, simply click on View summaries.
Information
This tab displays the employee's personal, corporate and bank information. Only the employee's general information is visible to colleagues.
To edit information, simply click on the pencil icon in the desired section (if available). Employees can edit their personal information and add a picture to their profile. The employee's status can also be edited to reflect their career path or changes in employment.
When adding a new employee, you need to enter basic information. You can then access their profile to complete any missing information.
If your Folks is integrated with payroll software, certain fields must be filled in to ensure complete transmission of data to your payroll system. To find out what these are, hover over the warning icon(s).
File notes
This tab allows the manager and any other authorized person to add notes to the employee's file. To do so, click on Add new notes at the bottom of the page.
The employee does not see the notes added to his or her file.
Documents
The document management feature integrated into the profile allows you to centralize and organize all documents relating to an employee within the organization.
Depending on your access rights, you can add, share, move, download, rename, view and delete documents. You can also create, rename and delete folders.
Add/manage a document
In the Documents tab, click on the add button. Once the document has been uploaded, the following actions are available: Move to, Download, Rename, Show preview and Delete.
To share the document with an employee, click on the switch.
Create/manage a folder
To create a folder, click on the + Create button to the right of the document list. Once the folder has been created, the following actions are available: Rename and Delete.
The Permanent folder is present by default and cannot be modified/deleted.
For more details about how to manage the documents in an employee's profile click here.
Time
This tab allows you to view an employee's absences, vacations and overtime. It also allows you to view the employee's timesheet.
Onboarding
This tab displays a list of employee onboarding and integration tasks.
Performance and Careers
This tab displays the employee's training and certificates. It also displays the employee's performance.
Expense Accounts
This tab displays a list of the employee's expense accounts.
Discipline
This tab allows the manager and any other authorized person to add disciplinary incidents to the employee's file.
To do so, click on the + Add button.
Surveys
This tab displays the survey for the selected year.
Statistics
This tab contains performance indicators enabling you to observe an employee's evolution in relation to the HR objectives defined by the company.
Work accidents
This tab displays a list of the employee's work-related accidents. Only the manager or an administrator can view this tab.
Employee Auto-Onboarding
Auto-onboarding is a feature that allows you to quickly create employee profiles. You can collect the necessary information using an automated form sent by email. This allows the employee to fill in their own information or confirm that it has been entered correctly. This speeds up the onboarding process for new employees.
Steps for sending a form
From the left menu, go to Employees > Employee List and click + Add an employee.
Fill in the required fields: last name, first name, and personal email address. 👉 Note that this is the address to which the employee will receive the email allowing them to complete the form. You may also fill in other optional fields such as job title, phone number, hire date, etc.
Once the information has been added, check the option to send a form to the employee and select the information they will need to provide by marking the appropriate boxes. You can also request that the employee upload documents by checking the corresponding box.
Enable email notifications for yourself and/or the employee’s supervisor.
Click Add employee. The employee will immediately receive an email containing the form to fill out with their personal information. 👉 Note that the link sent to the employee is only valid for 7 days. ⚠️ If the employee lands on an error page, it means the link has expired or has been canceled.
Required Fields
You can make certain fields required when sending the form to your employees. This helps prevent the accidental submission of an incomplete form.
👉 By default, no fields are required. You must enable this option for each field based on your needs.
First check the general field you want displayed. When selecting each field to be completed, you have the option to enable the Required toggle. Make your selection, then save. If you check use these choices as default for my future requets, your settings will be saved for future submissions.
For employees receiving the form, required fields will be identified by an asterisk (*) next to the label. These fields must be completed before proceeding to the next step of the form.
Custom Fields
If you have custom fields in your employee profiles, it is possible to make them available in the onboarding form. Only custom fields related to personal information or non-salary information can be displayed and completed in the form. From the employee profile configuration (Employees > Employee List and click on the gear icon), make sure that “Profile Section” is set to Personal and that “Salary” is set to No.
Sending the form to an existing employee
If the employee profile has already been created, it is still possible to send the request form. To do this, you must:
Go to Employees > Employee List and click on the three vertical dots ⋮ on the row of the employee to whom you want to send the form.
Click Send a profile completion request.
Select the information the employee must provide by checking the matching boxes. It is also possible to request that the employee adds documents by checking the documents box.
Enable email notifications for yourself and/or the employee’s supervisor.
Click Send. The employee will immediately receive an email containing the form to complete with their personal information.
👉 Note that the link sent to the employee is only valid for 7 days. ⚠️ If the employee lands on an error page, it means the link has expired or has been canceled.
Tracking requests
A temporary visual indicator ⏳ is added next to the employee’s name, directly in their profile, to signal that form completion is pending. This indicator will also be visible in the main list under Employees > Employee List.
From the employee list, you can resend the form or cancel the request by clicking the three vertical dots ⋮.
The information completed by the employee is automatically added to their profile.
The employee can also access and complete this form from their mobile phone.
How to create an employee profile
This article explains how to create a new employee in the system.
Note: It is also possible to create multiple employees at once by importing data. This procedure focuses on manually creating a single employee.
Steps to Follow
Go to Employees > Employee List.
Add an Employee Click Add Employee in the upper-right corner of the page.
Fill in the Basic Required Information Enter the following information:
First name
Last name
Corporate information, if available (except supervisor, see tip below)
Save or Continue Profile Creation After entering the basic information, you can: - Finish the addition and complete the profile later, or - Continue editing to access the edit profile mode.
Required Information for Payroll Connection
Important: If your organization is connected to a payroll system, certain personal and corporate information must be completed to allow data synchronization. Warning icons will appear if these fields are not filled in; hover over them for more information.
Managing the Organizational Structure
Tip: If you have already assigned department supervisors in your organizational structure, there is no need to assign them manually to each employee. The system will default to the supervisor of the department by itself. To learn more about this feature click here.
Adding Documents or Additional Information
Once the profile is created, you can add:
documents (e.g., contracts, certificates, supporting files), or
other complementary information, directly from the tab bar within the employee profile.
How to edit an employee profile
This article covers the individual modification of an employee profile. For bulk updates, refer to the article Import Data.
Steps to Follow
Go to the employee’s profile, either using the search bar or from the Employee List under the Employees menu.
Select the Personal Information or Corporate Information section.
Click the pencil icon to activate edit mode.
Make the desired changes.
When finished, click Save.
⚠️Important
Warning icons may still appear if certain integrations require additional information. Some fields also have editing restrictions, such as the Social Insurance Number.
👉 Note
Changes made to personal or corporate information can be viewed using the History button, located in the top right corner of the employee profile.
If you change an employee’s status, the following impacts apply to current and future evaluations.
Inactive - A reassignment of the evaluator is suggested when the employee is the evaluator for at least one unfinished evaluation. When the employee is being evaluated, self-evaluating, or being peer-evaluated, the evaluations are retained and a warning is displayed.
Terminated - A reassignment of the evaluator is also suggested, but evaluations in which the employee is being evaluated, self-evaluating, or being peer-evaluated are deleted.
Manage profile picture
Learn how to add or change profile photos in the platform.
Here's how:
From the main menu on your left, click on Employees > Employee List and select the name of the person for whom you’d like to add a profile photo.
Click on the camera icon. The message “Add a profile photo” will appear.
Upload the image you’d like to use from your computer files. Crop if needed and click “Add.” The profile photo will appear immediately.
⭐ Please note that only the account administrator and users with a role that allows them to add or modify attachments will be able to add or change a profile photo for another employee.
If an employee has a user account, they will also be able to add, change, or delete their own profile photo.
💡 If a photo is already assigned to the profile, you will see more options when clicking on the camera icon:
View profile photo
Change profile photo
Remove profile photo
How to Change an Employee’s Status
An employee’s status reflects their current situation in the organization. You can update it as their career evolves or their employment changes.
Navigate to the employee’s profile.
Click their status under their name.
In the window that opens, select the new status:
Active: Enter the employee’s return date. If needed, check Calculate seniority during this absence. Reactivating an employee adds them back to the active employee list.
Inactive: Enter the employee’s departure information. If needed, check Calculate seniority during this absence. Deactivating an employee keeps all their data, and you can reactivate them at any time.
Terminated: Enter the employee’s end date. Terminating an employee removes them from the active list, but their information and history stay in the system. No data is deleted.
When you're done, click Save.
If the employee is the evaluator for a performance review in progress, you’ll be asked whether you want to reassign it. Upcoming reviews are automatically assigned to the new supervisor.
If the employee has onboarding or offboarding tasks in progress, you’ll also be asked to reassign them to another assignee.
Bulk Modification of Profile Information
You can update the profiles of several employees at once by exporting their data, adjusting the file, and reimporting it into Folks.
This article covers two common cases: updating salaries and updating supervisors.
Go to Employees > Employee List and click View summary in the top right corner.
Click Show/Hide to select only the Employee Number and Salary, then return to the summary to export. All changes will be made on the same date for all affected employees. You can choose a retroactive date or the current date.
Open and adjust the Excel file. It is important to delete the rows for employees whose salary is not changing and to ensure that employee numbers are unique.
Save the file in CSV (separator: semicolon) format.
In Folks, go to Settings > Import/Export.
Upload the CSV file and click Import.
Map the columns correctly. Entering the date of the salary change is essential. You can also add explanatory notes if necessary.
Start the import and wait for the process to finish. You can then review the import log to identify and correct errors, and run the import again after making corrections if necessary. Confirm the updates by checking a few employee profiles.
Updating Supervisors in Bulk
Before proceeding with an import, check whether modifying the supervisor at the department or operating site level is sufficient. In that case, modify the supervisor in the organizational structure. All employees who have the default supervisor will be updated automatically (see Assigning the Default Supervisor).
To modify the supervisor for multiple employees, proceed as follows.
Go to Employees > Employee List and click View summary.
Click Show/Hide to select only the Employee Number and Supervisor, then return to the summary to export.
Open the Excel file and enter the employee number of each employee’s new supervisor in the Supervisor column.
Save the file in CSV (separator: semicolon) format.
In Folks, go to Settings > Import/Export.
Upload the CSV file and click Import.
Check the field mapping and select the Update only checkbox.
Start the import and wait for the process to finish.
Birthday and work anniversary
Location
Anniversaries are visible on the home page under the Anniversaries widget. This widget displays both birthdays and work anniversaries.
Widget Functionality
The Calendar widget shows a colored dot to indicate upcoming anniversaries. Only the day and month are displayed.
To see the type of anniversary (birthday or work anniversary), click on the relevant day in the calendar to expand the Anniversaries widget.
How to change the supervisor of an employee
To change an employee’s supervisor
Go to Employees > Employee List.
Select the employee you wish to modify.
Under the Corporate tab, click the pencil icon in the Employment Information section to access the edit mode.
Choose the supervisor to assign from the drop-down menu. Don’t forget to save before exiting.
WARNING: Once a supervisor is manually assigned, it will no longer be updated automatically based on the department or working site the employee belongs to. From the moment this change is made, any supervisor changes made within the department will not affect the modified employee.
TIPS AND TRICKS:
If you want to assign the default supervisor based on the department and working site settings, refer to the article Assigning the Default Supervisor.
In some cases, you may need two managers to supervise the same employee. Although the system does not directly allow you to designate two supervisors, there is a workaround for this limitation:
Creating a shared user: It is possible to create a user in the system that represents both managers. ⚠️Warning: This shared account will have access to the same information as the two individual managers.
Division of responsibilities: The two managers can divide approval tasks between themselves as needed.
Notification management: Only the manager assigned to the employee's file will appear in the organizational chart as the official supervisor and will receive email notifications. This distinction is important to maintain clarity in communication.
What is the Definition of Total Seniory?
Understanding Total Seniority
Definition and Calculation
Total seniority is information available in the employee's profile (corporate tab) and in the employee summary under the Seniority column. The calculation of this data follows the formula:
Company Seniority + Recognized Experience - Non comptabilized Seniority = Total Seniority
Key Components
Company Seniority
This metric indicates the time elapsed between the employee's hiring date and the current date.
Recognized Experience
This is an adjustable field on the employee control page, where you can enter a positive or negative value that influences the total recognized seniority.
Non-comptabilized Seniority
This part represents the duration of the employee's inactive periods during which seniority is not accrued.
Factors Influencing the Evolution of Total Seniority
Total seniority can vary based on several elements:
Temporal Evolution: Seniority naturally increases over time.
Changes in Hiring Date: Modifications to the recorded hiring date affect the seniority calculation.
Adjustments in Relevant Experience: Adding or removing relevant experiences also alters this value.
Tips and Tricks
It is recommended to keep the information on relevant experience updated to ensure an accurate assessment of seniority.
For employees who have had periods of inactivity, it is important to document these periods as unrecognized seniority to avoid calculation errors.
Managing Retroactive Salary Changes
This article provides detailed instructions on managing retroactive salary changes for employees via Folks. It guides through the various steps, from modifying the salary in the employee's profile to obtaining reports on salary changes.
Salary Change Procedure
Modifying an Employee’s Salary in Their Profile
Go to Employee > Employee List and select the employee whose salary you want to modify.
Go to the Salary Information section through the Payroll tab.
When saving, a window will appear prompting you to enter the Effective date of change.
Check the box Change salary retroactively.
Add a retroactive change date.
Click Edit.
Confirmation and Effectiveness of the New Salary
Confirm that the new salary is correctly displayed in the employee’s salary information.
The salary and related calculations will take effect from the indicated change date.
⚠️ Attention: If the training module is being used, the system will take into account the salary before the change date for any training entries recorded prior to that date.
Getting a Report on Salary Changes
Go to Employee > Employee List and select the employee for whom you want to review the history.
Click View History and make sure you are in the Payroll tab.
Filter the results by entering the dates and checking the box Only Ddisplay salary history.
Click GO.
The changes will appear in orange, allowing for analysis based on the date and salary.
Click Export to obtain the report.
The profile notes in an employee profile
You can access an employee’s profile in two ways:
Go to Employees > Employee List, then click on the desired employee.
Use the search bar to find the employee profile directly.
Once in the profile, click the File Notes tab from the shortcut tab bar.
Steps to Follow
Go to Employee > Employee Profile.
The File Notes button is available to all users who have access to the employee’s profile.
In the window that opens, you can:
Add a note by entering a date and the note text.
Attach a file by clicking the paperclip icon associated with the note.
⚠️Important: Employees don't have access to their own file notes.
It is however possible to give access to profile notes to other users. In the user access page, make sur the 'Give access to the employee profile notes' box is checked. Permission to access employee profiles must also be enabled.
Adding a confidential document to an employee's profile
It is possible to add documents to an employee's profile and restrict its access. There are two ways to go about it: by attaching a file through file notes or by adding an attachment directly in the employee's profile (under documents).
File Notes
You can add notes in an employee's profile (file notes tab). For each note you can attach a file. This tab is never available to the employee himself. There are no access to give or remove. It is hidden by default. This eliminates the risk of giving the employee access to their files by accident.
Limit the access to files by going through the employee's profile
When adding files to the employee's profile (documents tab), you have the option to make the file available to the employee of not. If you do not wish for the employee to view the files, simply make sure that the shared to employee toggle is off. For more information about document management for employees click here.
Only individuals who have been granted access to view files in another employee's profile will be able to access them. This permission is given in the user management page.
Supported file formats
To make it easier to use our platform, we've compiled a list of the different file types and formats we support. This will allow you to quickly check the compatibility of your documents with our system.
We recommend consulting this list to ensure the best possible experience with the Folks environment.
Documents: Rich Text Format (RTF), Microsoft Word, OpenDocument Text (ODT), and PDF (only PDF 1.3 and above are supported).
Spreadsheets: Microsoft Excel and OpenDocument Spreadsheet (ODS).
Presentation: Microsoft PowerPoint and OpenDocument Presentation (ODP).
E-mails & messages: RFC 822 (Email Messages) and Outlook Message Format (MSG).
Text and data: Plain Text and JSON.
Images: GIF, JPEG, PNG, TIFF, WebP and HEIC.
Audio: WAV, AAC and MP3.
How to delete an employee profile
⚠️ WARNING
The deletion is irreversible, and you will lose all data on this employee across all modules. Deactivation is often the desired action. For more information on how to deactivate an employee profile, refer to the article Make an Employee Inactive.
Steps to Delete an Employee Profile
Access the Employees > Employee List section and click on the name of the employee to delete in order to access their profile.
Click the gear icon⚙️ in the top right corner to access profile configuration.
Click Delete Employee. A confirmation window will open: click Delete Employee.
"My Team" Filter in the Employee List
A new button labeled “My Team” has been added to the Employees > Employee List page. By default, this filter is active (indicated by a grayed-out button with a check mark). You can uncheck it at any time to view the full employee list. This filter allows you to quickly see the employees under your direct supervision.
⚡ Please note: the system uses the direct supervisor that appears in the corporate tab of the employee's profile.
The filter is only accessible to employees in supervisory roles.. If an employee does not supervise any department or employee, this filter will not appear in their menu.
It is also possible to filter employees by displaying only those who have been employed for 3 months or less (Recent employees filter).
Finally, the inactive employees filter allows you to view employees who are no longer active (whether permanently departed or temporarily laid off). Inactive employees will be shown in the list with a light gray filter.
Employee Summary page
The Employee summary page shows all your employees’ information in a table, including salaries. You can use it to check your data after an import, export the list to Excel or prepare a bulk change.
You need the Reports › Summary lists › Employee summary permission to view and export the summary. Some fields may be hidden, depending on the permissions set for the role or user. Payroll and salary data also depend on your access.
Interface overview
You can open the employee summary in several ways:
Employees > Employee Summary
Employees > Employee List, then click View summary in the top right corner
The page shows a table with one row per employee and one column per profile field. The Employee column stays visible when you scroll to the right. Click a name to open the employee’s profile.
Use the search bar to search all columns or a specific column. To include inactive employees, check the box above the table. The number of employees shown appears above the table, on the right. To choose which columns to display, click Show/Hide.
The columns you see depend on your permissions and your company’s custom fields. Payroll fields only appear for companies that use Folks Payroll. You’ll find them near the end of the table, along with the number of hours per pay period. The Updated by column shows the initials of the last person who edited the profile.
Actions
Export - Exports the summary to Excel.
Validate emails - Sends a validation email to all unvalidated addresses in the email column.
Attachment - Adds attachments to the employee’s profile.